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KUALA LUMPUR — Internal politics in domestic football will be the biggest challenge facing newly appointed Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) technical director Scott O’Donnel, said a local football observer.
Shah Alam UiTM Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation senior lecturer Mohd Sadek Mustafa, who has confidence in O’Donnel’s vast experience in Southeast Asian football, however, doubts whether the former technical director of the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) would be given a free hand to form the Harimau Malaya squad.
“I see that the Harimau Malaya is still plagued by internal politics, so much so even FAM themselves can’t control it. His main obstacle is not the preparation and playing style of the team but managing individuals and those who handle the bigger teams in the Super League to release their players for national duty.
“We know there are teams with the power to prevent their players from representing the Harimau Malaya, including deciding who can or cannot join the national set-up. I think that’s something which should be wisely handled by O’Donnel together with FAM,” he said when contacted today.
O’Donnel, 54, who began his three-year contract with FAM yesterday, is familiar with the footballing culture in this region, having featured for Kuala Lumpur in 1994-1995 as well as playing in the Singapore League with Tampines Rovers (1996-97, 1999-2000) and Marine Castle United (1998-99).
Apart from coaching Geylang United (2003-2005) in Singapura, he had also served as head coach of Cambodia twice (2005-2007, 2009-2010) and AIFF technical director from 2015-2017.
The former defender was also the technical director of Capital Football, which is the governing body of women’s football in the Australian capital of Canberra, from 2017 until last November.
Recently, the national team, who were set a target of qualifying for the final of ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup 2020 in Singapore, were severely criticised by local fans and football analysts, starting from the fact that some of the best players in the local league were not selected to the short preparation time caused by the Malaysia Cup competition ending just six days before the team’s opening match against Cambodia.
Malaysia, the 2018 AFF Cup runners-up, began their Group B campaign with two wins - 3-1 over Cambodia and 4-0 over Laos - before going down 3-0 to Vietnam and 4-1 to Indonesia to finish third in the group and failed to advance to the knockout stage.
Mohd Sadek hoped that FAM would give O’Donnel all the support he needs to build a solid team in preparation for the 2023 Asian Cup final qualifying round that will be held in June.
“He doesn’t have much time unless FAM are bold enough to tell the fans the truth and not call up reserves from the Super League to represent the country in the future. If they can be truthful to the fans, then I feel there will be no problem. However, if FAM continue to take such players, I fear their fitness levels may not be up to par,” he said.
On O’Donnel’s proposal for FAM to appoint a foreign coach to handle the Harimau Malaya, Mohd Sadek said it was a clear sign that he wanted an individual who was on the same wavelength.
This, he said, was because foreign coaches were seen as having vast experience at the international level compared to local coaches.
Mohd Sadek feels that O’Donnel was only being honest as he wanted a coach who shared his football concept or philosophy so that they could together lift the national team’s performance level.
“This is not to say our local coaches are not capable, it’s just that they have not undergone (coaching) courses overseas for a long time, including the opportunity to be attached to major clubs in Europe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
He also dismissed rumours that national Under-22 head coach Brad Maloney and Bojan Hodak, who guided Kuala Lumpur City FC to Malaysia Cup triumph recently, are in the running to replace Tan Cheng Hoe who quit as national coach on Monday after failing to lead Malaysia to the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2020 in Singapore last month.
According to him, Brad should continue working with the youngsters while Bojan would not take up the hot seat as he was aware of the problems in local football, besides being comfortable with how things are going with the City Boys. – Bernama, January 6, 2021
